Swimming glove



Aug. 7, 1928. 1,679,679

- s. E. NElLL SWIMMING GLOVE Filed March 17, 1926 STRANGE E. IVE/LL Patented Aug. '7, 1928.

UNITED TATES Parent OFFICE.

srn men EARL NEILL, or Baxnnsrmnn, .cALIroaNIA.

swmm'me GLOVE.

Application and March 17,1928. ."S'eri'al'No 93,242.

' My inventionrelates to and has for its purpose the provision of an extremely s mple and inexpensive device'by which swunmers are greatly facilitated to the extent that one may maintain himself afloat with lezs efiort, and greater swimming speed can be attained. c It is also a purpose of my'invention to provide a swimming device. in the form of a glove adapted to'be worn .on the hand and having webs between the finger stalls thereof which, when the-fingers are spread as in swimming, prevent theipassage of water between the fingers and thereby cause the hands to act on larger-bodies of water in.

swimming, which as a result greatly facilitates swimmin I will describe only one form of swim min-g glove embodying my invention and will then of in claim.

I line 2-2 of Figure 1;

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a View showing in plan one form of swimmin glove embodying my invention with the gers thereof extended as in swimming;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken onsthe Figure 3 is a' view similar to .Figure 1 showing the fingers o'Lthe glove in normal br non-propelling position Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line44ofFigure 3;. I

Referring specifically tothe drawings, in which similar reference characters refer to 'similarparts, my invention, in its present embodiment, com rises a sheets of rubber or ot er suitable material 16 formed integrally with or secured to'the stantially triangu fingerstalls in a manner to. span the space between the stalls when the latter are in extended position, 'as shown in Fi ure 1, and thereby forming webs which unction as partitions between the finger stalls ob struct the'passage of-water therebetween.

In practice, there are two such devices-or gloves which are applied to the hands in the manner of a glove so that the stalls 15 receive thefingersiof the hands, it being understood that the shape of the body of each point out the novelfeatures therescribed only love formed of any suitable flexi 1e materlal, suchas rubher, the glove includin finger'stalls' 15 and .flexiblerubber spanning continuations of and glove is such as to prevent the accidental removal of'the glove from the hand.

In swimming the wearer manipulates his hands in the usual manner and during the propelling stroke of each hand the fingers are'spread so as to move the web'16 to the exteiidedposition shown in Figure 1. The webs thus form spannin' partitions between thefingers, preventing 't 10 passage of water between the fingers and thereby causing the hands to act on larger bodies of water, with the result that greater propelling force can be exerted. In the recoverin stroke of the hands, the fingers are broug it together so that the webs,16,occupy what may be termed as collapsed positions as shown in. F igure 3, so that the hand minimum resistance .to starting its return tothe position of the propelling stroke.

U From the foregoing'operation, it willbe manifest that I have provided a swimming glove which, when applied to the hand of a swimmer, causes the hand to-function in swimming in a manner similar to that of the feet of an otter, and whereby with less' physlcal efi'ort a swimmer is capable, by the- -proper manipulation of .his hands, as above dezcribed, of maintaining himself. afloat and swim with greater speed.

Although I;hav'e herein shown and deone form of swimming glove embodying my invention, it is to be under- .stood that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the spirit and scope of the appended clalm. I claim as my invention: A swimming-device comprising a glove formed of flexible rubber, and sheets .of.

said s ar contour so that when the stalls are spread apart the sheets provide intervening webs', the sheets having strip portions along the lengths of their. edges confronting adjacent stalls, forming I projecting laterally to one side only of the sheets, the said portions providing attaching surfaces bylmeans of which the sheets are secured to the stalls 'STRANGE EARL stalls of the glovei as a whole offers adjacent finger 7 cats being ofvsub- 

